The Children, Sexual and Gender Based Violence Magistrate Court sitting in Awka, Anambra State, has sentenced Success James (35) to prison for child labour, abduction of children and child stealing.
Success James was tried on an eight-count charge, and was found guilty of seven.
Chief Magistrate Genevieve Osakwe found the convict guilty in count 1 and sentenced her to five years imprisonment, count two (five years); count three (two years); count four (four years), count five (two years); count seven (two years) and count eight (one year) prison term respectively. The sentences are to run concurrently with no option of fine.
The convict was arrested in Onitsha and arraigned last December for allegedly abducting four teenage girls from Akwa Ibom and using them for child labor.
The victims, aged 15, 14, 15 and 13 years, were rescued by the Commissioner for Women and Social Welfare, Mrs. Ify Obinabo, two days to Christmas.
The children said they were taken by one Auntie Success who claimed she had job opportunities for them in Agbor, Delta State, where they would be selling drinks, but later discovered the job was prostitution.
Mrs. Obinabo expressed joy over the judgment, saying the children had been enrolled in school and were also learning skills of their choice at the Skills Acquisition Center in Awka.
She warned that the government would not tolerate any form of crime, and promised continued justice for children and women in the state.